GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) – The Communist Party chief of Guangdong province stepped in to mediate a standoff over censorship at a Chinese newspaper on Tuesday, a source said, in a potentially encouraging sign for press freedoms in China.

The source close to the Guangdong Party Committee said Hu Chunhua, a rising political star in China who just took over leadership of Guangdong province last month, had offered a solution to the dispute that led to some staff at the Southern Weekly going on strike.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – As the end of middle school approached this year, Zhan Haite, 15, faced two choices: attend vocational school in Shanghai in the fall or move to her ancestral home in distant Jiangxi province to take the high school entrance exam and study there.

Taking the test and going to senior high school in cosmopolitan Shanghai, where she had lived since she was four, was not an option.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Imagine if the U.S. state of Hawaii passed a law allowing harbor police to board and seize foreign boats operating up to 1,000 km (600 miles) from Honolulu.

That, in effect, is what happened in China about a week ago. The tropical province of Hainan, home to beachfront resorts and one of China’s largest naval bases, authorized a unit of the police to interdict foreign vessels operating “illegally” in the island’s waters, which, according to China, include much of the heavily disputed South China Sea.

SHANGHAI, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Imagine if the U.S. state of
Hawaii passed a law allowing harbour police to board and seize
foreign boats operating up to 1,000 km (600 miles) from
Honolulu.

That, in effect, is what happened in China about a week ago.
The tropical province of Hainan, home to beachfront resorts and
one of China’s largest naval bases, authorized a unit of the
police to interdict foreign vessels operating “illegally” in the
island’s waters, which, according to China, include much of the
heavily disputed South China Sea.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – In his first three weeks as China’s Communist Party boss, Xi Jinping has shown himself to be more confident, direct and relaxed than his predecessor – but also quick to invoke nationalistic themes to win public support and legitimacy.

He has at least twice spoken publicly, and in heroic terms, about national “rejuvenation” and the “revival of the Chinese nation”. The phrase has been uttered by all of Xi’s predecessors as party boss, but his frequent usage so early in his tenure is intended to “create cohesion” through nationalism, said Li Weidong, a political commentator and former magazine editor.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – New Chinese regulations allowing police to board vessels deemed to be trespassing off the southern island of Hainan were a provincial-level initiative, but Beijing likely signed off on them, an official said on Wednesday.

China is in an increasingly angry dispute with several of its neighbors over claims to parts of the oil and gas-rich South China Sea, including the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – New Chinese regulations allowing police to board vessels deemed to be trespassing off the southern island of Hainan were a provincial-level initiative, but Beijing likely signed off on them, an official said on Wednesday.

China is in an increasingly angry dispute with several of its neighbors over claims to parts of the oil and gas-rich South China Sea, including the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.

BEIJING (Reuters) – However ploddingly China’s new leaders might like to reform the world’s second-largest economy and the way they govern, pressures set to build over the next decade will likely force great change upon them.

President-in-waiting Xi Jinping and the next premier, Li Keqiang, were anointed on Thursday as the top leaders of the Communist Party, only the second time the party has managed a peaceful transition since it took power in 1949.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s president-in-waiting Xi Jinping won a strong mandate on Thursday to lead the world’s second-biggest economy and deal with problems ranging from corruption to economic uncertainty.

Xi was appointed head of both the ruling Communist Party and its top military body as the ruling Communist Party unveiled a new leadership line-up consisting of conservatives and respected financial reformers.

BEIJING (Reuters) – One of China’s most senior financial officials is likely to lead the fight against corruption, a top priority in the world’s second-biggest economy, following his appointment to a key council at the end of the Communist Party’s 18th congress on Wednesday.

Known as “the chief firefighter”, Wang Qishan, 64, is currently the vice-premier in charge of economic affairs, under Premier Wen Jiabao.